Now that the waiting game is over for the men's golf team, things can only go up.
Before the ACC tournament the Blue Devils had been on a tear, playing some of their best golf of the year, including winning their second tournament of the year, The Intercollegiate Golf Tournament. Talk of an ACC title was buzzing through the locker room.
However, after the unthinkable happened--a miserable seventh place finish in the ACC tournament--the Blue Devils were left praying the NCAA selection committee would look very favorably on their two tournament wins.
When the word finally came on May 8, Duke landed a spot in the East Regional at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va. The Blue Devils get to play close to home. However, they have to play in the much tougher East Region.
"I felt confident we [would] still get a bid. We prepared as if we are going to make it, [took] care of our school work, and then buckled down," coach Rod Myers said.
However, now that it has landed the bid, Duke has a few things to work on before they can regain their old form and hopefully finish in the top seven--a requirement to make the finals, which will be held in Durham.
First, Duke must get off to a good start if it is to hang with the leaders. That should also put away any unranked teams like Virginia and North Carolina that the Blue Devils beat all year until the ACC tournament. Squads like that should be gone after the first 18 so Duke can concentrate on upsetting the higher, ranked teams in the field. In a field this tough, they cannot afford to fall behind like they have before and have to play catch-up for the next three rounds.
Secondly they need to put better than they did in the ACCs. Ironically, they drove the ball very well on a hard course in windy conditions, but, when it came to finishing off their putts, the Blue Devils were often successful. Little things like that can kill their confidence and scoring average very quickly.
"I'm not pleased, especially coming off the last [tournament's victory at Chapel Hill]," senior Paul Tucker said after the teams' problems in Orlando. "The team putted terribly. It's frustrating when you hit the ball like a tour player and putt it like a 30-handicap."
Finally, in order to qualify for the NCAA finals, Duke will need to be firing on all cylinders, from recent three-time All-ACC selection Matt Krauss on down. The ones at the top must contend for the individual titles, and those lower on down cannot rely on the top to do all the work.
"If we want to have a chance to win golf tournaments we need to have individuals in position to win golf tournaments," Myers said. "Matt and Leif [Olsen] are both outstanding players. It will come."
It will come, its just a matter of if it will come at the right time.
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